Syndicated columnist and novelist Carlos Alberto Montaner is a frequent lecturer and part-time instructor at the University of Miami (FL), the University of Guatemala, and others.

Born in Cuba, Montaner has lived in Madrid since 1970. Dozens of newspapers in the U.S., Spain and Latin American run his weekly column.

He has published two books with Algora Publishing. His books in Spanish include Fidel Castro y la Revolución cubana, No Perdamos tambien el siglo XXI (Let's Not Lose the 21st Century Too), the novels Perromundo and Trama, and, in collaboration with Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza and Alvaro Vargas Llosa, Manual del perfecto idiota latinoamericano and Fabricantes de miseria.

What will happen when Fidel Castro dies?

US-Cuban relations are entering a new era, and everyone is jockeying for position; even the US elections take note. "Elian" was just one episode in the propaganda...

What will happen when Fidel Castro dies?

US-Cuban relations are entering a new era, and everyone is jockeying for position; even the US elections take note. "Elian" was just one episode in the propaganda wars.

How does Castro's mind work? How did he get into power, and how does he stay there?

Who was the real Che Guevara? What was the Revolution really about? What went wrong — and what went right?

This book offers insights into all these questions, probing the heart of a passionate nation whose relations with the US are

I. Portrait of the Young Fidel Castro 3

Childhood of a Caudillo 7.

Gangsters and Revolutionaries 13.

II. Setting the Scene 23

Natives, Liberals and Annexationists 26.

Liberals and Independentistas 30.

The Rebellious Republic 36.

The Batistianos, theAutenticos and the Ortodoxos 42.

III. The Insurrection 49

The Attack on Montada 52.

Guevara, Guatemala and the Rise of Radicalism 59.

From Mexico to the Sierra Maestra 62.

The Opposition Gets Tough 68.

Batista and the Norteamericanos 73.

IV. Here’s. . . Communism! 81

A Shadow Government 84.

Was He Pushed, or Did he Jump? 86.

The Firing Squad 89.

The Destruction of Civil Society 93.

The Anti-Communist Insurrection 97.

The Opposition and Washington 100.

The Bay of Pigs 105.

From the Missile Crisis to Kennedy’s Death 112.

V. The Ends, the Means and the Achievements 119

“Worms,” Homosexuals and the New Man 124.

The Anatomy of Terror 129.

Death to the Intelligentsia 136.

Raft People and Prostitutes 142.

The Conquest of the Third World 146.

Castroand Gorbachev 159.

The Narco Revolution 161.

Post-Communism 169.

Dissidents and Civil Society 176.

The Pope’s Visit 183.

The Achievements of the Revolution 186.